xi, 446 pages ., [8] pages of color plates : 24 cm

Overview: An extraordinary chronicle of Venice, its people, and its grandeur. Thomas Madden's majestic, sprawling history of Venice is the first full portrait of the city in English in almost thirty years. Using long-buried archival material and a wealth of newly translated documents, Madden weaves a spellbinding story of a place and its people, tracing an arc from the city's humble origins as a lagoon refuge to its apex as a vast maritime empire and Renaissance epicenter to its rebirth as a modern tourist hub. Madden explores all aspects of Venice's breathtaking achievements: the construction of its unparalleled navy, its role as an economic powerhouse and birthplace of capitalism, its popularization of opera, the stunning architecture of its watery environs, and more. He sets these in the context of the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire, the endless waves of Crusades to the Holy Land, and the awesome power of Turkish sultans. And perhaps most critically, Madden corrects the stereotype of Shakespeare's money-lending Shylock that has distorted the Venetian character, uncovering instead a much more complex and fascinating story, peopled by men and women whose ingenuity and deep faith profoundly altered the course of civilization

Includes bibliographical references and index

Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1: Refugees on the lagoon: the origins of Venice -- 2: St Mark's rest: the birth of the city of Venice, 697-836 -- 3: Coming of age: independence, expansion, and power, 836-1094 -- 4: Merchant republic in a feudal age: ecclesiastical and political reform, 1095-1172 -- 5: Between empires: the Peace of Venice, 1172-1200 -- 6: Birth of a maritime empire: Venice and the Fourth Crusade -- 7: Marco Polo's Venice: prosperity, power, and piety in the Thirteenth Century -- 8: Discovery of the West: war, wealth, and reform in the early Fourteenth Century -- 9: Plague and treason in the Fourteenth Century -- 10: From victory to victory: the War of Chioggia and the birth of the mainland empire -- 11: Death of a parent: the fall of Constantinople and the rise of the Ottoman Turks -- 12: Sowing and reaping: Medieval Venice and the birth of modern finance -- 13: Perils of success: the apogee of the Venetian Empire -- 14: Most splendid and serene: Venice and the Renaissance -- 15: For God and St Mark: the wars against the Turks -- 16: Masks, opera, and love: Venice the tourist destination -- 17: Medieval republic in the modern world: the United States, France, and the fall of Venice -- 18: Crisis of identity: Venice in the Nineteenth Century -- 19: War, water, and tourists: Venice in the Twentieth Century and beyond -- Further reading -- Index

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